Sneakerized is also the name of the blog of three Germany guys (Oliver, Mischa and Sven), that you have to know as a sneaker head in Germany. They also made this clip, titled – you guessed it – Sneakerized. And I’m sure, many of us will find ourselves in there at some point. LOL!!!
By the way, I really love the “It’s marking check boxes with a swoosh” line. Hehe.
But they have even more specials for you. If you are visiting a city, their store finder is worth a look for finding sneaker stores in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Just type in the name of the city.
And it really doesn’t stop here. The best thing is about to come: Oliver and Sven even created their own sneaker brand, called flaek, and designed their first shoe, the kaalen hi. It has a clean and timeless design, features quality materials and interchangeable tongues. The whole process was covered in their flaek blog and this interview by Sneaker Freaker Magazine provides another insight into their project. Go to their site for more pictures and information. Originally, a project for their studies, they now try to make a production of the sneaker possible.
It is already good to see how far they have come, but hopefully, these guys can go all the way finally.
OK, after CuDi and MJ, what else is there today, you ask??? Well, the Air Yeezys and me, we go back long time. But today I finally can hold my own pair in my hands.
But there is a bittersweet taste to it. And I’ll tell you why I finally gave in.
In the afternoon of May 1st I got ready to drive all the way to Cologne for the release of the black/pink Air Yeezys (covered here), but as I arrived, there were already 60 people on the list for 40 pairs of shoes, to say nothing of the chance to get a pair in my size. After a short tour through the Cologne nightlife (I had to do at least something there, right?), I made my way back to Frankfurt, not even thinking about going to Hamburg a few weeks after for the next release of the tan colorway.
The matter was closed, but as we were in Tokyo on our recent trip and checked out all the stores, we came by the UNDFTD store. It was closed, but the renewal opening was only days later, when we still were in town. On a sign they displayed all the sneakers, they were releasing that day, including the Air Jordan 60+, the AJF 4, Air Jordan 7 DMP pack, the New Balance White Pigeon, some adidas shoes and – to our very surprise – the Nike Air Yeezys, picturing all three colorways. Worrrrrrrrrrrrd??!???
Chris couldn’t make it to the store on that Saturday, because he had an interview scheduled. I wanted to go there as early as possible – that would mean: take the first Metro train. The night before we missed the last one and had to walk some meters to our hostel and got there maybe around 1:30am. Because of the heat and the snoring of another guest, I had to pull an all-nighter and then decided to get a shower around 4:15am before leaving the hostel.
I made it to the second train at 5:15am, but after a while we got overground, which was, as I said it into the camera, “fucking wrong”! But after one hour and fifteen minutes I finally made it to my destination. At 6:30am, there were two people there, a nice couple, so I was third in line. They were really friendly as we got to talk a little bit. The guy was trying to get a pair of the New Balance White Pigeons, we copped a few days before. To have a feeling for the next three and a half hours of my life, click the play button on that video.
The next person in line came maybe at 8:00am, but until 10:00am quite a lot people (around 100) showed up for the opening. Then, a staff guy grabbed a bag, shook it and presented it to the couple that was in front of me and they each picked a piece of paper out of it. Then he came to me and the next guy in line. I didn’t understand a word, but by now, I pretty much knew, what was going on. A raffle. I drew #77.
That meant, that I should come back at 11:50am. I couldn’t believe, what just happened. I was standing on the side, as the store manager asked me what number I got. I showed him. He shrugged. I asked, how many pair of Yeezys they have, but he couldn’t tell. He revealed though that they only have the tan colorway and in size 12 and even 13, so a little bit of hope remained.
As I had nothing better to do I stayed there, sat down on a small wall and watched as the first people got into the store. One of the guys in line, that immediately caught my eye when he first came to the scene, because he looked like having my size, asked me in English what size I have. I said “12″. He, too. Ouch! He asked, what shoe I was looking for. I didn’t wanna share my target, so I said, whatever I can get. I asked him what shoe he is looking for. He said – actually looking down on me with a killing glance in his eyes – “Yeezys”!
Everybody stepped out of the store carrying a bag with Nike Sportswear boxes, specifically the Air Yeezys. Soon, I was instructed to get back in line, still not understanding any words. Right in front of me was the guy who was behind me on the first line, right behind me was the guy that was originally in front of me. He who was looking for the White Pigeons.
Of course, they didn’t have any Yeezys left when it was my turn, so I stayed inside the store – still not believing all of this – until this nice guy came in after me and checked everything out. He seemed very pleased about the new store and I think he would be ready to die for the store, as he knew every staff member in there and was wearing UNDFTD gear from head to toe. Literally.
If he wouldn’t have gotten the White Pigeons in his size, I would have offered him my size 10s for the regular retail price. But how I understood it, he had. Still there are two things I didn’t understand about this whole thing. He and his girlfriend were there at 6:00am, well knowing that they had a raffle going on anyway. So maybe they were just dead serious about it. But I don’t think the slightly better chance of getting the #1 spot can be compared to waking up so early and waiting there for four hours with also the chance of getting the very last spot. Of course, there came tons of guys, that I could tell won’t be wearing any of these shoes, instead they just tried to make quick money. Show up 10 minutes before the raffle. If you draw a small number, you have the chance to double your investment in just a few minutes. If not, so what. I really doubt that system.
The second thing is, that a few days before we went to Mita Sneakers and it was so easy to get those White Pigeons (video). We were there 30 minutes before store opening, while the first guy in line was there one hour before the opening, so I really, really don’t understand how they were out there since 6:00am.
There was also a reseller in Tokyo, that had the Yeezys in size 13 and I told Chris before the release, I won’t be leaving this city without the Yeezys. But they still were a size too big for me, even though a pic of me in front of the store wearing the Yeezys and holding up both middle fingers would have been so dope, but still not worth the requested price, as the shoes aren’t really my size.
So, after all these hours, wasted time of my live, the pollution from my ride to Cologne, eventually missing out a good party in Tokyo, because I finally needed some sleep – as Chris told me about it the next day, it sounded really good to me at least -, I decided to end this ongoing saga and at the end of the day everybody seems relatively happy. I made me some kind of happy now, I made a reseller certainly happy, the White Pigeon guy was happy as nobody else all the time anywayz and the UNDFTD guys were happy that day, too, I think.
First of all, I’m sorry this post is heavily delayed. I had a very nice surprise visit, but here we go.
Not only does today mark the release day of KiD CuDi’s first album, it’s also the day Michael Jordan, Air, MJ, #23, The G.O.A.T. is enshrined into the Basketball Hall of Fame just in these moments.
Nike has put together a nice timeline, titled ‘History of Flight‘, for MJ’s career, also presenting his shoes throughout the years – from the Air Jordan I to the Air Jordan 2009.
Of course all his championships, the Olympics 1992, all the milestones are covered and you are able to watch 23 videos of special moments, while there is also some interesting information you might not know yet. A fact, that I obviously like very much, is that MJ had to play one game in a jersey with #12, because his jersey had been stolen (check the heart you see above). You also get to know about the inspiration behind some of the Air Jordan shoes. Surprisingly, I learned that the Air Jordan XI (11) was inspired by a lawnmover – OK, a well designed one after all, but still -, a shoe that moved on to be one of the hottest sneakers out there. I saw a pair on sale for 1,200 Dollars in Tokyo a few weeks ago. So, go ahead and do whatever you like with that information.
Congrats to MJ, even though it maybe considered a formality, and thanks to Flo for the heads up.
So, on Wednesday, we again walked around town to check some stores for the newest shirts, sneakers and so on, but also we’ve seen some classic sneakers like the Jordan XI going for 126,000 Yen (nearly 1,260 US-$ and 1,000 €) at Kicks Lab.
But let’s start from the beginning, when we went to KIKS TYO, so Chris could meet someone for his documentary. Please have a look at those Baby Jordans they had. I like!!!
I got the news, that the Air Jordan 60 + will be available today at Foot Locker. So I went on my way to the gym and found those three pairs, that were not there last week. They also have the Air Jordan 3 True Blue now, that Chrishimself and me got last week already via Snipes, and the Air Jordan Force 4.
This post is about the about Sneaker Book (written in German).
It’s not your normal sneaker book as the two authors Oliver Krämer and Carsten Franke portray sneakerheads and collectors. You will find out some kool things, like one guy interrupting sex with his girlfriend, because an eBay auction was about to end (he won it!) or another one outbidding Roger Federer over the phone for a pair of Nike Air Max 1 41.
So, this is my first post after we got back from New York and Boston. We had a great time, even though we only spent a couple of days in those cities. Part of it was shopping like mad krayzie (and after it getting lost in Harlem, but that’s another story…). The first thing I did after our arrival (and a night without sleep at the airport) was to put all this stuff on my bed. Maaaaan, I do like it!!! And big shout outs to German Customs, that were not present at the airport when we arrived. ;-)
I will highlight some things during the next days.
Please check out this new collaboration shoe… OK, so it’s not really a collabo, but with the possibilities of NIKEiD I created my own NIKE Dunk Low.
For the colors, I chose blue for the sky and yellow for the sun. These shoes are strictly for the summer!!
Additionally, I could inscribe the inner and outter surface. ASSZ obvioulsy stands for my name and on the inner side my hometown of Frankfurt is represented.
Finally, here are the pics. Click on them to get a better view…
NIKE has some hot colorways for this shoe in 2009. Here are my favorites. I recommend that you go go out and get them all three*.
The Persian Violet
This is in my opinion the hottest one and one of the original colorways. I got mine already from the guys over at hhv.de. They are just waiting for the summer to arrive.
